Hurricane Sandy couldn't stop this New York couple's wedding in Orlando

Lakisha Smith's white dupioni silk wedding gown didn't look like it had barely escaped the floodwaters of her Brooklyn apartment.

And groom Baron Lattimore didn't look like he had spent the night on a bus traveling 1,100 miles after his flight from JFK Airport was canceled.

The New York couple managed to dodge the perils of Superstorm Sandy to reach Orlando in time for their Friday evening vows.

"It was hectic. It was crazy. But with God's blessing we were able to make it down here," Lattimore said Friday afternoon while trying on his wedding tuxedo. "There wasn't anything that was going to stop me."

For months, Lattimore, a 40-year-old photographer, and Smith, a 36-year-old advertising representative for Comcast, planned to hold their nuptials at the Waldorf Astoria Orlando hotel and resort near Walt Disney World.

But when Hurricane Sandy — a monster storm that killed scores of people, knocked out power to millions of homes and caused billions of dollars in damage — roared into New York City on Monday night, the couple's home in the Canarsie neighborhood of Brooklyn quickly filled with water.

So while she waited in her Mercedes sedan, Lattimore grabbed the couple's packed suitcases and rushed out of the house. He held Smith's wedding gown over his head as he waded through knee-deep floodwaters.

"She was yelling, 'You cannot get the dress wet,' " Lattimore said.

After driving about three city blocks, the couple's sedan became half submerged in water and stalled. They got out and walked to Lattimore's sport utility vehicle parked nearby, again holding the wedding dress above their heads. Then they drove to a relative's home in the Flatbush neighborhood.

"My biggest concern was that I would get us to safety and, of course, that I would protect the wedding dress," Lattimore said with a laugh.

Two days later, the couple learned that their flight out of JFK airport to Orlando was canceled.

But even that was not going to stop the determined couple from getting hitched.

Smith decided to rent a motor coach bus.

On Thursday morning, the bus left Brooklyn for Orlando. Onboard were two professional drivers and more than a dozen wedding guests whose flights from New York City also had been canceled. After more than 20 hours, they arrived at the Waldorf. It was 3:30 a.m. Friday. The wedding would start at 6 p.m.

"We were comfortable, and we were able to enjoy each other's company," Smith said about the bus ride. "But God is good and helped us find a way."

And, indeed, the loving couple found a way.

As the sun set behind the trees, Lattimore and Smith held hands and said "I do" in front of 83 wedding guests outside the hotel. When they kissed, fireworks went off in the clear Central Florida sky.

The couple then led a procession back into the hotel for the wedding reception, dancing to the song, "All Around."

"For me, this goes to show that some things in life are more important than anything else," said Suzanne Stephan, director of marketing for Waldorf Astoria Orlando. "I know it's corny, but love conquers all. It truly does."